Monthly Archives: February 2014

SELF-ESTEEM – TRUE SELF & FALSE SELF? BY KIANG P. LEE

Greetings again friends!

We live in a world where the sanctity of life is no longer sacred and seems non existent. Witness the shootings in our schools that’s taken the lives of many innocent young victims. Or, the shootings in our public places, like malls, theaters, and so on. Events like these are frequent that we don’t ask “if” but “when” the next one is going to happen. Then, there’s gang wars which take the lives of our young adults. There are wars that are fought in parts of the world with no regard for human life. I could go on. The answer to our troubles lies deep within us. It has to do with our self-respect and self-esteem from which all relationships begin.

Laws of Relationships 

There are only two important relationships that matters in life. When Jesus was asked this question by one of the religious scholars of his day, Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.” (Mar. 12:28-31) I will focus on the second part of this passage, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” in this post because of its relevance concerning our relationship with our fellowman.

Golden Rule of Relationships

The “Golden Rule” is the basic law of relationships which undergirds our relationships with people. Jesus said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matt. 7:12). The Golden Rule forms the basis of the law of relationship of “loving our neighbor as ourselves” (Mark 12:31). That is the Spirit’s code of love, which upholds man’s conduct and relationship with other humans. Jesus said this shall be the sign of discipleship, if we love one another as He loves us (John 13:34-35).      

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Loving Yourself

However, this short and direct command, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”  packs a lot more punch than it appears to say. Its true test lies not in how much we Love others, but in how much we Love ourselves first. If you read the command backwards it would say, “As you Love yourself, Love your neighbor.” To the degree you value yourself, value your neighbor. Love begins with you. If you are asked to Love someone, how do you measure its effectiveness? How do you tell it is a genuine article? Let’s unwrap this question in this post.

Jesus says you are the gauge of that Love. How much Love you can give depends on how much Love you have for yourself. If a neighbor came to your house and ask for milk, and you don’t have any in your refrigerator, how much of milk can you give? Yes, none! Who you are as a person, is the determinant of how you relate with other people. You cannot Love someone more than who you are as a person – in your heart, deep in your innermost being. Your Love for others will tip the scale at the point of your self-esteem and no more.

Self-Acceptance

The essence of what Christ command is not self-centered love. But self-giving Love! Jesus is talking about self-acceptance – who we are in the core of our being. We understand that in the process of Christian conversion when we surrendered our lives to Christ, we acquired a ‘new self’ in Christ. The words of Paul rings clear, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live…” Crucified and buried the ‘old self’ in our watery grave of baptism. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead, we have been raised from our watery grave with a new life in Him, and He in us. We had hands laid on us to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus told the disciples to wait for Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Paul goes on with this thought, “Yet I live, but not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  (Gal.2:20)

New You

How much do you value this ‘new you,’ this new person you have become in Christ? This is the question that seems to arise out of the second part of Jesus’ command. How much do you accept this ‘new self’ that’s born anew in Christ by the power of the Spirit? When you received Christ, you were made sons and daughters of the Most High God. But more importantly, just as God is a Tri-Personal Being – Three distinct Persons with three equally distinct functions, but ONE God, so it is with all believers in Christ. Christ made us ONE with God by becoming human Himself. Theologians emphasize the distinction between the Trinitarian persons by using different prepositions to characterize their roles. For example, if you are a reader of Thomas F Torrance’s writings, you probably came across something like salvation is from the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. Our response to God, whether it involves repentance, prayer, thanksgiving, worship, Love, is also Trinitarian in nature: we respond to God’s Love with His Love by the Holy Spirit, through the Son, and to the Father. Of course, that’s the first part of the command in our relations with the Triune God. The second to do with our neighbor cannot happen without the first. They dovetail into each other.

Unique, Unrepeatable Image of God

So, when we worship and relate with the Triune God, we do so as a person who is uniquely distinct from others. The poet William Wordsworth said, all persons “differ by mystery not to be explained.” I cannot give a post to reach everyone of you because you are all different in gifting. From my vantage point, I cannot explain who you are. Only God knows all that for He has gifted everyone differently. We will never lose our personal unique giftedness as an individual in Christ. Stephen Seamands, in his book, “Ministry in the Image of God,” said, “The goal of Christian community, constituted by the Spirit in union with Jesus Christ, is to provide a place in which everyone is accepted as an ineffable, unique, and unrepeatable image of God.” So, I can only give a “housekeeping” message which applies to all. Only in your personal reading and studies can God reach you as a person unique in your own gifts.

Covenanting Trinity

The New Covenant explains this in Hebrews 8: “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them.” The Message says it like this, “They won’t go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons. They’ll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great.” (Heb.12:11) That’s the Covenant telling us about the work of the Holy Spirit in your personal journey and salvation. You’ll go through personal issues unique to your own situation which you will take to God in prayer, and the Spirit will guide you in your studies because what you’re going through is unique to who you are in your gift. You will go through trials unique to you because they can happen only within the context of your person and your constituted gift from God. Personal trials are peculiar to you because of your gift. That’s how the Spirit leads you deeper to your your destiny in Christ.

John’s Vision

In John’s vision of the God’s world in the future, there are innumerable multitude that stands and worships before the throne of God “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” (Rev.7:9) That world to come is not a homogenous place where we are all blended into one enormous banana pudding. No, but one where the individual nations, tribes, peoples, and languages endure and remain.

Self-Giving, Self-Sacrificing Love

You see, the distinction between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, must always be viewed in the context of their Loving relationship and interaction with one another. Love is self-giving and self-sacrificing. Each of the Triune Persons freely lays down and gives of Himself for the sake of the other Two. Theologian Geoffrey Wainwright says it like this, “The divine Persons empty themselves into each and receive each other’s fullness.” So our new identity in Christ brings us into that circle of Trinitarian Love. There is no egotism or self-serving, or self-seeking, within the Triune Godhead. There’s only self-giving Love. That’s why Paul said, “I urge you, brothers and sisters…to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,” – why, because in our fallen humanity we can’t live like God in His self-giving Love. The only way is to live like Christ did and live sacrificially in the Spirit’s power. Paul goes on, “holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” (Rom.12:1-6)

This is the self-respect and self-acceptance Jesus is talking about. The measure of Love you have for who you are in Christ and the gifts He confers upon you to do God’s will in you, which is His Love in you, is the same measure you will use to love others – nothing more, nothing less. This is the foundation upon which Godly relationships are built, beginning with your family and then outwardly to your neighbors. This is the basis upon which Christ’s command, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is built. It is built upon your “self-respect” in Christ. “As you Love yourself, Love others.” Christ’s baptism in the Jordan reveals not only what the Father declares openly of His Son, but to all His children. Each time someone receives Christ as Savior the Father utters these memorable words, “You are My beloved son, You are My beloved daughter, in You I am well pleased.” (Mar.1:11) Our self-acceptance and self-esteem is grounded on those words of the Father. It tells of a person who is unique and has a place in the Father’s heart.

Parable of Lost Sheep

In a parable Jesus compares Himself to a shepherd who leaves the ninety nine sheep to find the one that’s lost. (Luk.15:3-7) Why did he do that? In a world where the sanctity of life seems non-existent, so much so we say ‘life is cheap,’ some might ask why is that lost one important? Because human life, made in the image of God, is sacred. He loves each and every one of them. Yes, it’s a Love more than we will ever know or imagine. There’s another side. What makes one so different from another that’s worth saving – truly, I don’t know, but God does. But I know this, He made us in His image, so to deny us is to deny Himself. I can only repeat William Wordsworth words, each one of you is “different by mystery not to be explained.” As Paul says, “We do not all have the same function.” All 100 were uniquely gifted, so, like the Trinity, God made us in His image so one could not function without the other.

Self-Esteem

Self-acceptance is about self-esteem. The ‘old man’ that was crucified was buried in baptismal waters along with his self-worth. That self-worth was our ‘false self’ – now you receive the ‘new self’ in Christ. Let me tell you something about ‘false self.’ I use to see myself as the one and only person who will make things work and happen for me, and my family. I don’t turn to anyone for help. In every facet of my life and that of my family – my children’s upbringing, their education, our overall welfare was my responsibility and mine alone. And my self-esteem was measured by my accomplishment in how I performed that role as a father. That’s the spirit in which my whole life was lived. It’s not until I come to understand the Triune nature of God’s self-giving, self-sacrificing Love, that I understood in my heart that was my ‘false self.’ This self-giving God wants to give Himself to me, by taking every single weight of my responsibility onto Him and His Son through the Spirit. And my response is to give myself in self-giving Love and worship to Him first and my Love my fellowmen. To make His love a living reality in my life! Christ said, “Take my yoke and give me yours. Mine is lighter.” What is His yoke? It is His self-giving Love.

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Human Way of Discovering Self or God’s Way Through His Spirit

If I keep insisting upon my self-worth on the basis of what I can accomplish for me and my family, my job, my neighbor, I am rejecting His gift, His Love. I will remain blinded to the gift He wants to show and give me through His Spirit. By living according to the standards of my ‘false self,’ I was defining what made me acceptable, rather than accepting God’s definition of me in the gift He wants to give me. To reject God’s gift and insist on my own definition of myself is missing the mark, or sin. Paul said, “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” (Phil.2:13, AMP)

Grow in Grace and Knowledge

This is a process, not a once-off thing we do in our initial conversion. For the ‘old self’ will always try to rear its ugly head, and I must learn how to put it down. As Peter said we are to “grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet. 3:18) That is how the process works in you and me – we are to be growing spiritually through God’s grace and knowledge. So, I have to embrace my weakness as well, realizing I still live in this fallen human body, which Paul calls, “this body of death” – “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom.7:24-25) So, the process of self-acceptance involves learning to embrace all our flaws as well – to understand who this ‘old self’ is. Otherwise, how will we know the difference? When Paul said “I glory in my weakness,” it means he knew the difference between the two. He ends as always, “I am made complete in Christ.” (Col.2:10)

The Measure of Who You Are In Christ

It is our self-worth and self-acceptance in Christ, that forms the basis of how to truly learn to relate and Love others acceptably without fear or favor.  The Bible is clear, as you love yourself – your ‘true self’ in Christ, to the same degree, extend it to others. What Christ has done for you, you want the same to be done in others. You can never extend more than the measure of the value of who you are in Christ. But as you grow in “grace and knowledge” we do increase that measure, so that we can Love more than we had before. So, the question will always be: are we “loving” through our ‘false self’ or through our ‘true self’ in Christ?

Christ told of the day of judgment, He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matt.7:21-23) I can do everything I have always done under the ‘false self’ and paint Christ’s name over it in bright glossy finish. But does that make it truly Christ’s work? No, it doesn’t change a thing. It’s not about me doing things for Jesus, but Christ coming and doing His thing in me. There’s a big difference. We want to bring about God’s will in our own way, in our own will. It’s not going to happen. It’s not as if He has not given us help – of course He has through His Spirit who lives in us.

Abraham & Sarah

Abraham wanted to bring about God’s will the way he and Sarah saw it. So, he was going to build his whole legacy and heritage upon Ishmael. Ishmael was going to be the heir-apparent to the birthright – so they thought. After all, didn’t God promise them an heir, and they were helping God out in this crucial matter. But God would have no part in it. He had other plans. It was not what they wanted to do for God, but what God was going to do in them. There’s a difference. Then they entertained three divine visitors. The three angels were icon of the divine Trinity. Paul sums up the situation as it appears with God, “The son of Hagar, the slave-wife, was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise” (Gal.4:23 NLT), while Isaac was the child of promise, the rightful heir to Abraham’s legacy.

Isaac & Ishmael

For many years Abraham’s relationship with God was not perfect as long as his heart was with Ishmael. It was not until he came to the realization that God’s will for Isaac and not Ismael, that he summoned up enough courage, with Sarah’s insistence, to send Ishmael and Hagar away, then the relationship was reset to its intended course. How often we claim to have an idea we give our all to, saying it is what God wants us to do and prayed about to God to bless our efforts in that goal. It becomes apparent God is not blessing our efforts. What we have done is only what is humanly possible to do. That is one way we know God’s will is present – for it will take a miracle for God to prove. Isaac was a miracle child born when Sarah was past her child-bearing age. Ishmael is the child of our human thoughts and efforts – he is the ‘false self.’ He is not our ‘true self’ – he is a child born out of slavery who will enslave us.

Isaac Becomes an Idol

There came a time that even your true gift (your Isaac), becomes a problem, just as Isaac became an obstacle in Abraham’s relationship with God. Abraham was delighting more in Isaac than in God. So, even when we have the right dream, a gift from God, the one we have always waited for all our lives, the dream now becomes an obstacle in its own right. So, Abraham was told one day to take Isaac and sacrifice him to God. Often God’s purpose and destiny, our Isaacs, become more important to us than God Himself. If it enslaves us, then it can become no different from Ishmael. We have remade it to reflect our ‘false self’ not God’s glory in us. We have taken God’s glory from Him. Yet He says this us, “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.” (Isa.42:8) He is saying “don’t turn My gift into an idol and bow before it – I am here, I give gifts and I have more where that came from.” God’s gift can usurp the throne of our hearts which only God should occupy. Oswald Chambers says, “The greatest competitor to devotion to Jesus is service to Him.”

Then after we have surrendered our gift, our Isaacs, God consecrates it and gives it back to us. For now God knows our heart is not in the gift, but in Him. Recall what God told Abraham when he was about to take Isaac’s life, “Abraham, do not lay a hand on the boy. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” (Gen.22:12) God gives Isaac back to Abraham. Yet it seems so much a self-fulfilling prophecy, for much later, God had to sacrifice His own Son. There was no one to stop Him. But God did it out of pure Love for man, Abraham had to prove his Love for God. It was Abraham’s Love for God that saved Isaac. But also, there was no one to stop Him from raising His Son from the dead. For such is the Love of God. Death has no power over Love. Just as It was Abraham’s Love for God that saved Isaac our Love for God will save our neighbors. Your identity, your ‘true self’ in Christ is made of God’s self-giving Love. It is this ‘true self’ you must Love, and is the basis on which we extend Love to others.

Let’s go out there and live life with all the self-esteem we have in Christ’s Love for us through the gifts He has so gracefully conferred upon us, and through it extend the same Love to others.

Blessing

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you today and give you strength for authentic creative Triune Living as a Bula man-river.*

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Kiang                                                                                                                                                          (Your Servant in Christ)

* The “Bula man-river” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bula man-river, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book. Remember, when you purchase my book all the proceeds go towards the Lords’ work of dispensing the Gospel. Thank you for your support.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise

Note: Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information .

GOD’S “CREATIVE LIFE” LIVES IN MAN, THE HOLY SPIRIT, BY KIANG P LEE

Greetings once more to all! Lets’ continue on the topic of man’s creativity.

Man’s creativity is God’s gift to mankind. God is the origin of all creation and is Creator. In part 1 we saw WHO God is explains WHY and WHAT He creates. He creates because He is Love in His Triune nature and Being. We saw that He is Love. (1 John 4:8) What He creates He does out of His divine unfathomable Love. He is Love because He’s Triune. He cannot be a Tri-Personal Being and not be Love, for Love is inter-personal and relational. To be Triune is to be in Loving relationship.

How do you tell if a person is creative in God’s own image? Jesus answered this question by saying, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matt.7:20). If you see the context of this verse Jesus was pointing out how to tell the difference between a person who is creative (true) and a person who is non-creative (false). What is productive, and what is unproductive. What is Love, and what is fear. And ultimately we are a facing life or death equation in the end.

Alright, Jesus’ answer dovetails into another question… what are these fruits? Paul documents this in his letter to the Christians in Rome, Corinth, and Galatia. God’s love is the peaceful flow of the Spirit’s life in the Bula man-river: it is *the fruit of patience, *the fruit of kindness, *the fruit of contentedness,  *the fruit of being modest and unboastful, *the fruit of humility, *the fruit of honor, *the fruit of unselfishness, *the fruit of calmness and dignity, *the fruit of forgiveness andcompassion, *the fruit of delighting in good and shunning evil, *the fruit of tolerance, *the fruit of responsibility, *the fruit of enduring hope, *the fruit of steadfast perseverance, *the fruit of joy, *the fruit of peace, *the fruit of goodness, *the fruit of faith, *the fruit of gentleness, *the fruit of self-control, *the fruit of zeal and spiritual fervor, *the fruit of friendship, *the fruit of sharing and generosity, *the fruit of prayerfulness, *the fruit of hospitality, etc. (1 Cor.13; Also Gal. 5:13-26; Rom.12).

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Dove – Symbol of The Holy Spirit (Wiki Commons)

All these and other traits of the Spirit spells one thing: they spell the actions and emotions of the Spirit in the life of man. By and through them we decipher and peek into the different tones of God’s love. They present to us the way of life of the triune God.

It’s not possible to speak of the Spirit’s creative work in man without the fruits that identify who He is – it’s one and the same, it’s unavoidable. He is Love. Love is identified by fruits. Most times when people think of the fruits of the Spirit, they often view them academically through the legalistic lens of religious proponents as self-improvement tools to make “better people” of us. We live powerless lives when we do. We are not zombies, but free-will humans made in the image of God. These are not self-improvement tools, but rather self-giving and self-sacrificing tools in Herald’s move in our lives.

On the contrary, we fail to realize that from eternity these fruits undergirded the loving relationship of the Three Persons within the Triune God. Love’s energy is brought to life in the application of these fruits. In our constant presence before God, as Bula man-river*, share this energy and the creative relationships we have within the Triune existence of God. Before creation, before the existence of a world in need of being saved, self-giving, self-sacrificing Love, was what marked the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Herald). Now you are in their midst living the same life they live from eternity and tasting that life in the Spirit. Many believe in the Trinity but have not experienced the Trinitarian life, let alone know of its power in their lives.

Paul was addressing this very issue of denying the power of the Triune life of God when he drew the attention of young evangelist Timothy, to a list of actions (fruits) that were disempowering people, and from the Herald the Spirit. He mentioned being unloving, unthankful, without self- control, brutal, unforgiving, self-lovers, despisers of good, disobedient, and so on. These and other such actions are fear-based behaviors. Paul said, “They have the form of godliness, but deny its power.” (2 Tim. 3:1-5, KJV) All these behaviors stand up against the list of the Spirit’s fruits we saw earlier, which are Love-based behaviors.

If we take a look at these Love fruits closer we would realize they cultivate and promote positive emotionally-charged activities. They show God has emotions. For example James instructs us to be “slow to become angry.” (Jam.1:19) Herald helps us by empowering us with self-control by controlling our anger. So, self-control is a calming positive emotion which dampens the negative angry emotion. When the Bible says, “Rejoice always” (1Thess.5:16) it’s not referring to our human expression of enjoyment, but a spiritual emotion of joy which the Spirit gives to sustain us even in times of adversity. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh.8:10) Joy is not an unmoving static emotion, no, it reveals the divine exuberance of God’s divine emotion. To be in God’s presence is to taste His unbound joy. You can go through each fruit separately and peek into God’s awesome own divine self-giving feelings.

These fruits are the emotional Love expression of God’s Tri-Personal nature and Being. Love is the core expression of creativity. One look at this beautiful earth we call home, and it becomes obvious God created it out of sheer exuberance of joy. Without Love creativity is non-existent. Fear is not creative, it is negative and harmful.

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Light Bulb – Symbol of Creativity. Rainbow Colors Depicts God’s Creativity in Man (Wiki Commons)

Why is this important to Jesus and those who choose to follow Him as believers? Because the power and might of God can never ever be manifested in a destructive way because He is Love. (1John 4:8).  It can only be expressed in His Triune Loving pattern of doing things. It is always self-giving and self-sacrificing. And that’s what these fruits demands from us – to be self-giving and self-sacrificing as they are in their relationships with each other.

When Jesus walked this earth, the power of God flowed through the Love fruit of His compassion which healed and produced much good among the people. (Acts 10:38) Through the Holy Spirit we are drawn into their circle of Love, thus, we live the Triune Life. Just as each divine Person in the Trinity is always denying Himself for the sake of the Others and submitting to Others, so do we in the Triune Life, first with God and our fellowman. To be Triune is to be in Loving relationship. We saw that in the last installment. There is no self-love or self-importance within the Triune Godhead. The Tri-Personal God find their unique identities by focusing not on themselves, but on one another. Who they are is how they express themselves to each another. And the Holy Spirit lives this same Loving expression in believers when we also live self-giving lives through the fruits of Love.

We are all unique in our gifting and destiny, and who we are in our gifts becomes a reality only when we express our gifts to others through the fruits of the Spirit. Or, we can be self-centered and use our gifts like an ATM machine and cash-in on our gifts for our own selfish motives, like the unprofitable servant in Jesus parable of the talent. (Luk.19:11-126) When we do that we are burying our unique gifts in our ‘self.’ You’re a non-identity because no one can seen you except you. You have hidden yourself in the ivory tower of your ‘self.’ And not until you allow the Spirit to express your gift in self-giving Love to others through Herald’s divine fruits, only then your unique identity will show through.

Let’s live our unique selves in the creative life in the Spirit.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you today and give you strength for authentic creative Triune Living as a Bula man-river.*

Kiang                                                                                                                                                          (Your Servant in Christ)

 

* The “Bula man-river” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bula man-river, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book. Remember, when you purchase my book all the proceeds go towards the Lords’ work of dispensing the Gospel. Thank you for your support.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise

Note: Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

GOD’S “CREATIVE LIFE” LIVES IN MAN, BY KIANG P LEE

Greetings once more friends around the world! It’s amazing how the month of January just whooshed by, and we are now in the month of February. Let’s touch on another topic of importance to our lives and that of our loved ones. Let’s talk creativity.

Every day we witness the mind of humans at work to bring about much of the creative environment in which we live today, without which life would be unbearable. At no time in man’s history have we seen man’s creativity in the innumerable products and services available to man. From  cell phones to space exploration; from medicine to toys; from computers to transportation, and in every field of endeavor. Of course, we must not forget the most important of all creativity without which nothing would be possible, man’s creative relationship with the Creator and his fellow humans. As long as you are human, you can believe in your own creativity, why, because God made humans to take on His image and likeness, and God is Creator.

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Creativity – Domain of the Human Species Made In God’s Image (Wiki Commons)

God is Creator. WHO He IS in His nature reveals HOW He creates. God is creative because He is Love. God is Love because He is Trinitarian. (1John 4:8) He cannot be a Tri-Personal Being and not be Love, for Love is inter-personal and relational. One of the purpose of Jesus’ coming was to reveal the true God and His Triune nature of Love. The Trinitarian Being of God has been described as the grammar of Christian faith. Grammar simply tells us we are speaking a language properly so the meaning of our communication is not misunderstood. Jesus revealed a God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It differentiates the Christian understanding of God from all other beliefs.

Jesus prayed for His disciples and future believers in this way, “As you, Father, are in Me, and I am in You, may they also be in us.” (John 17:21) Prior to this He assured them, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you… He, the Spirit of truth come, He will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:7, 13, ESV) It is clear the Holy Spirit (Herald – my intimate reference of Him) will be with us forever, as Jesus states, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever. (John 14:6) It is clear that when Jesus lived a perfect human life, died as human atonement for sins, and was resurrected and ascended to heaven, He took our humanity and glorified mankind by bringing mankind into the very Being of the Triune God. Because of what Jesus did by joining man to the Triune God in Himself, the Holy Spirit automatically became part of our humanity, hence, He remains with man forever – if and when we believe.

If Herald is with us forever, then He is the Love, the nature, and Being of God in man. As Paul told the Romans, “God’s Love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Rom.5:5b) Therefore, it is logical to conclude that all of God’s creative activity in man is proclaimed, sounded, and declared by Herald the Spirit. Jesus tells us of how he will work in man, “He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”  (John 16:13-15) In other words, the Tri-Personal God act as ONE.

File:Dove at flight.svg

Dove, Symbol of the Holy Spirit (Wiki Commons)

Too many times we try to explain God as a mathematical equation, like, how can something be one and three. We say it’s a puzzle, a riddle. We will not find God in a mathematical equation. The Trinity speaks of God’s nature – in other words, the act of one Person is always the act of three, and the act of three Persons is always the act of one. That makes them ONE, not three. It is this same incomprehensible and immeasurable Love which spills over and cause them to create man in His image and likeness. (Gen1:26-28) Who creates a species (man) and gives him the freedom to even defy Him? The answer is in His unknowable Love. He lives in a dimension He has not fully reveal to man. The Triune God is unified in substance and reality in their Love for one another.

When we frame the question about God in mathematical terms, we obscure the nature in Their Tri-Personal Love God is wanting to convey to man. Be that as it may, in mathematical terms, it conveys that God’s mystery transcends human understanding. Man will never contain God in his limited human mind – He is beyond us. “To whom will you compare Me? Or who is My equal?” (Isa.40:25-26; 55:8-9) If God were solitary like other gods, we can decipher his nature easily because that has been man’s own motivation since the fall of Adam. Man is solitary and self-centered. All His Triune work are acts of His unfathomable Love, and therefore “creative” and outgoing, not solitary and destructive.

This solitary human life, Christ has taken into Himself and made it Trinitarian by joining it to God’s Loving Triune Being. (John 17:20-21) This is WHERE the believer IS NOW! He lives in the circle of God’s Triune Love and creativity. It is from this Triune center, this Trinitarian base we have in Christ, that we are made to live the “creative life” in the power of the Spirit. This is the birth place of all creativity and the Loving “creative life.”

In my next installment, I will touch on the specific actions of Herald to see how this “creative life” is undergirded in man, and made reality in the life of a human believer.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you today and give you strength for authentic Triune Living as a Bula man-river.*

 Kiang                                                                                                                                                         (Your Servant in Christ)

 

* The “Bula man-river” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bula man-river, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book. Remember, when you purchase my book all the proceeds go towards the Lords’ work of dispensing the Gospel. Thank you for your support.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise

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